Hartshead

HARTSHEAD, a division, in the parish and union of Ashton-under-Lyne, hundred of Salford, S. division of the county of Lancaster, 9 miles (E. N. E.) from Manchester; containing, with part of the town of Stalybridge, 12,731 inhabitants. This division is the largest in the parish, of which it comprises the whole of the eastern side, the centre being about two miles from Stalybridge. The name is said to have arisen from a covert or shed for deer of the hart species. The north-east portion contains several elevations, whereof Hartshead Pike is the highest. On this point was formerly a conical fabric of stone, erected in 1758, with a vane at its apex cut into the form of a hart's head; it served as a landmark for mariners, but in 1794 was split from top to bottom, and soon afterwards became a ruin. This is a considerable manufacturing district, in which are numerous cotton-mills. Among those in the vicinity of Mossley, are the Bottoms and Scout mills, established in 1805, and subsequently enlarged to their present extent, the property of Mr. G. Mayall and Mr. J. Mayall, who reside near their respective works. Heyrod Hall was at an early period the mansion of a family of the same name, of whom John del Heyrod was the possessor in 1422. Mosdelee was formerly held by the Bardsleys, and has been long the estate of the Halls. Ross-bottom was possessed by Robertus de Rossbotham in the fifteenth century, by the rent of a rose. Scout Mill, on the bank of the Tame, was in 1794 a private lunatic asylum. Among the villages or hamlets within the district are, Mossley; Hurst-Brook, in which are some cotton-mills; Higher Hurst, remarkable for its large cotton-mills; Hurst-Nook; Hurst-Cross; Hazlehurst; Smallshaw; Lusley; and Ridge-Hill Lane.See Hurst, Mossley, and Stalybridge.

Transcribed from A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, 7th edition, published in 1848.